Investing.com -- Stocks on the U.S. equities markets remained unsettled on Wednesday amid the steep, rapid depreciation of the euro against the dollar.
One day after one of its largest declines of the year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell slightly 0.16% or 27.55 on Wednesday to 17,635.39. The Dow dropped more than 330 points on Tuesday.
The NASDAQ Composite index and the S&P 500 Composite index also dropped less than 0.25% each, as investors await next week's Federal Open Market Committee meetings.
In spite of gains in the financial, telecom and energy sectors, the S&P 500 still closed down 3.9 points to 2,040.24 (0.19%). The NASDAQ fell 0.20% or 9.86 to 4,849.94, as it continued to retreat from the 5,000 level it reached at the start of the month.
Financial stocks were broadly up on Wednesday, ahead of the release of the Fed's stress test on capital amounts of banks after trading hours. Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) rose more than 2% or 1.10 points to 52.33, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) gained 1.50 or 0.84% to 184.21. Shares in JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) and Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) also closed higher on the day. JPMorgan Chase & Co rose 0.47% or 0.28 to 60.24, while Bank of America Corporation gained 0.32 or 2.03% to 16.11.
General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), meanwhile, dropped slightly after the Dow Jones reported late on Wednesday afternoon that the 26th largest firm in the U.S. could reduce or possibly eliminate its commercial lending business. GE still closed up 0.02 or 0.08% at 25.19. Elsewhere, on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) reversed a streak of recent losses by finishing the day as the Dow's top performer. Intel gained 2.11% or 0.67 to close at 32.37. The worst performer was Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT), which lost 1.62% or 1.33 to 80.74.
The top performer on the S&P 500 was Denbury Resources Inc (NYSE:DNR), which gained 5.04% or 0.38 to 7.92. The worst performer was Tyson Foods Inc (NYSE:TSN), which lost 5.63% or 2.24 to 37.54 amid heightened concerns of the spread of bird flu in the midwest.
On the NASDAQ Composite index, SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) closed Wednesday as the top performer of the day after Goldman Sachs upgraded it to a conviction buy. SanDisk gained 22.65 or 3.30% to 82.81. The worst performer, meanwhile, was Chinese web services company Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:BIDU), which dropped 5.94 or 2.82% to 204.45.